


Sharing Is Caring

by DashFlintceschi



Series: Illnesses/Disabilities Alphabet Challenge [13]
Category: You Me At Six
Genre: Chris gets the measles, Gen, Josh is whiny when he's sick, Matt plays nurse, he gives it to Josh Max and Dan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 01:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1839634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fan coughs on Chris and gives him the measles, which he accidentally passes to Dan, Max and Josh. Matt's forced to play nurse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sharing Is Caring

**Author's Note:**

> M is for Measles. Originally, M was for Meningitis, but I struggled with it for too long, so I ended up changing it to measles. I don't think I'm the only one that thinks Josh looks like he'd be a whiny git when he's ill.

It starts on the last day of tour. Chris is talking to a fan, when he starts coughing, without covering his mouth, right in Chris’ face. Chris quickly backs away, but it’s already too late. Chris expects to end up with a cold or the flu, but that’s not what he gets. A week later, he develops a fever, a hacking cough, and weird bumps appear on the inside of his mouth. He doesn’t realise what they add up to, until two days later, when he breaks out in an infuriatingly itchy rash that starts behind his ears, then spreads across his face and down his neck, before quickly spreading over the rest of his body.

He Googles ‘itchy rashes’, and quickly ascertains that he has the measles. As soon as he realises this, he quarantines himself, but as he continues reading, he realises it’s too late, he’s already been infectious for several days. He hopes he hasn’t passed it to any of his band mates, but as he thinks this, he gets his answer as he hears a hacking cough ring out in the next room. Dan’s room. It’s the same cough he’s had for days, and as he ducks his head around the door to check on him, he sees the same fever flushed face and red, watery eyes he’s had for days.

Dan looks over at him and groans when he sees Chris’ rash.

“It’s not just a cold, is it?” He asks weakly, and Chris shakes his head.

“According to Google, it’s the measles. Sorry mate, I would’ve kept it to myself if I could,” he tells him, and Dan nods.

“I know you wouldn’t give us this on purpose,” he insists, and Chris frowns.

“Us?” He questions, and Dan sighs.

“I think Josh and Max have come down with it, too. Josh passed out on the couch after lunch, he said he kept himself awake coughing all of last night, and Max hasn’t eaten all day, says he’s not hungry and he feels like shit, he looked like he was getting a fever, too,” he explains, and Chris sighs.

“So Matt’s the only one who seems to have gotten away, then?” Dan nods, and Chris groans from the guilt. He wouldn’t wish the way he feels right now on his worst enemy, never mind his best friends.

They decide that, since all four of them have it, and Matt would have gotten it all ready if he was going to, that they may as well be miserable together. Thankfully, the three sided wrap-around couch is big enough for all four of them to spread out comfortably, so it’s not long before all of them, now all broken out in itchy rashes, are settled on the couch with blankets and duvets. Matt thanks god that none of them are insufferable when they’re ill, since he’s the only one well enough to look after them all. He’d probably kill them all within a day or two, otherwise.

The only time Matt considers smothering any of them is when Josh starts whining pathetically, complaining over and over about the itching. Matt quickly pushes away the urge, and satisfies himself by throwing a bottle of calamine lotion at him, which, though Matt’s frustrated at him, he’s glad bounces off the back of the couch and lands harmlessly in his lap, rather than hitting him. Josh quickly covers the places that are itching the most, then passes it around to the others. They’re quiet, but Josh knows Dan and Chris tend to go almost silent when they’re ill, and Max just doesn’t have the energy to complain.

“How come you didn’t get it, anyway?” Dan asks Matt in barely a whisper as he settles back down on the couch, and Matt shrugs.

“I got both my MMR jabs, same as you lot, I dunno why I didn’t get it,” he replies, and Josh frowns.

“There’s a second jab?” He asks, and Matt nods.

“Yeah, you’re supposed to get one when you’re about a year old, then the second one when you’re about four or five, before you start school,” he explains, and Josh’s frown deepens.

“I never got a second one. I remember mum telling me about how guilty she felt when I screamed the place down after I got it when I was thirteen months old, but I don’t remember getting one before I started school, and mum’s never mentioned it,” he insists, and the other three nod in agreement.

“Well, that’ll be why I’m the only one that didn’t get sick. None of you are completely immune, since you never got the second one, whereas I am, because I did,” Matt explains, and Dan sighs.

“I’ll need to talk to mum. I want to know if she never took me to get the second one because she didn’t know there was a second one, or if she just felt too guilty at how upset I got after the first one to take me for my second one,” his voice is gets softer and softer as he speaks, and they all know this will probably be the last time any of them hear him speak for at least a few days.

Thankfully, none of them develop any of the complications that Chris read about, and over the course of the week, all of them slowly start feeling better as the bright red rashes slowly stain to a dark brown, then fade away. On the seventh day, when he’s feeling almost completely back to normal, and his skin has a barely noticeable, faded, dark brown rash, Dan phones his mum and asks about the second jab. He gets his answer immediately when she gets upset about not knowing she was supposed to take him and his sister for a second jab, and apologises profusely for not making sure he was vaccinated. He spends almost an hour calming her down and insisting that she doesn’t need to apologise, it wasn’t her fault the doctor never told her, and he doesn’t blame her, he was simply curious.

When he finally hangs up with a sigh of relief, he turns to update the rest of them, but he’s interrupted by Matt coughing harshly. The four of them groan and start making a nest on the couch and making tea for him. They’re happy to take care of him, even if he hadn’t just spent a week nursing all four of them single handed, but it’s just so typical Matt to be a week late for _everything_.


End file.
